The Truth About the Madrigals
by FantasyFreakLover
Summary: Some of Amy's old friends show up, as Cahills! Dan is a Lucian, but Amy is one of them...A MADRIGAL! What are the Madrigals, and why are they feared? Picks up after the 4th book. R&R! I/A? T cause I'm parinoid.
1. Chapter 1

"Maybe East? The Magi came from the east."

Amy Cahill glared at her brother in frustration.

"Will you please stop randomly naming places that the next clue is in?!" She snapped at him, "It isn't helping _at all_, Dan, especially since we really don't know anything!"

"Hey, I'm only trying to help!" Dan protested indignantly. "What have you done? Other than complain, that is?"

"I think!"

Nellie took one of her ear buds out and glared at the both of them.

"You two are on the same team! You should act like it! So nock it off, and work together, instead of arguing all the time. What do we _know_?"

"We know that the clue is Myrrh. We know that the Madrigals destroyed the Ekat stronghold. And that's pretty much it." Dan rattled the list of, looking depressed.

"Grace left us Bible verses, maybe we should go to Bethlehem, or Jerusalem." Amy suggested dully. They had already made that suggestion. Several times, in fact.

Nellie frowned and tried to think this through.

"All right, so we don't know anything about that. What about where the other Cahill's are? Those could be hints, right?"

"The Holts are supposedly in St. Petersburg,"

"Not that that is very helpful," Dan muttered under his breath,

"Irina is in Morocco, the Kabra's are in Kyrgyzstan, Alistair Oh is back in Seoul, along with Bae Oh, Jonah Wizard is in Paris, I have the Sterlings are still out of commission…I think that's all. Now. Both Irina and the Kabra's are on fake leads."

"So are the Wizards!" Dan pointed out.

Any bit her lip gently. "We aren't absolutely certain of that. There might be something in Paris." She scowled at Dan's disbelieving look. "All right, the Wizards are also on a fake lead. The Sterlings are out, so that's four down. The Holts are idiots, and nothing we've found leads anywhere near St. Petersburg, so that's five. Alistair is researching, so at the moment we don't have to worry about him or his Uncle. That's every one. No leads there, unless you are counting on the Holts to be actually doing something smart."

Dan snorted. "Right. And I'm the president."

Amy started to smile, then caught sight of something over Nellie's shoulder and paled dramatically. Nellie and Dan both twisted around to see what had scared Amy. They stared. Irina was standing in the doorway, looking around. Looking for them. With her, were the Kabra's. Dan scowled.

Irina caught sight of then and started their way.

Amy looked around desperately, but there wasn't any—

"Crys?!"

The tall blonde across the room turned around at the sound. She smiled, then got up and headed in their direction.

"Isn't that the girl you met in Boston? When she was meeting with someone in the library and afterwards you became friends?" Dan asked quietly, leaning toward Amy so he couldn't be over heard.

"Yeah, that's Crystallin" Amy said, just as quiet. "We stayed in touch for a while, but she became really busy over the past year, so, we haven't talked in a while."

She looked up. Dan and Nellie exchanged glanced before following her lead.

Irina, Ian, Natalie, and Crystallin had all reached the table at the same time, but it was Crys who managed to slip into the remaining chair. There was something decidedly dangerous in the way she moved, and there was something terrifying in the way that she smiled at the Lucians.

"We're busy," she purred, "but feel free to leave a message. We'll get back to you as soon as we're done."

Dan and Amy looked at each other, speaking with their eyes. The conversation went something like this:

Dan: _Is she crazy?_

Amy: _No, just very, very intimidating._

Dan: _They're Lucians! They won't like that!_

Amy: _Have you seen the people she was with?_

Dan: _Holy COW!!!!!!_

Amy: _Yeah, she doesn't care._

Dan: _I think I like her. _

The Kabra's and Irina just stared at her for a moment, but didn't leave. Crys raised an eyebrow and beckoned for security, never taking her eyes off of them. Turning, they stalked furiously off, security following at a distance to make sure they left. The girl turned back to them and smiled. "So, how are you, Amy?"

Amy smile wanly. "I'm as well as can be expected."

A frown knit Crystallin's forehead. "Well as can be expected? What is wrong?"

"A family scavenger hunt," Dan replied. "The competition is fierce." He sighed.

Her frown deepened.

"What are you children doing in the hunt for the clues?" She asked slowly. "Surely it must be difficult for you. I met you're Aunt; she doesn't seem the type to give you money to go gallivanting around the world on a chance."

They just stared at her, shocked. She looked back at them confused, then sighed as she realized what was their problem. She shrugged. "Technically, I am a Cahill."

"You never told me that!" Amy gasped.

"It never came up, and until the hunt started, it didn't really matter." She said easily, with another shrug.

"And you didn't know that we were in the hunt?" Dan demanded. She shook her head. Dan sighed. "And here I thought that we were the talk of the hunt. That'll teach me not to have an inflated ego like the Kabra's."

She smiled slightly. "I haven't been in the hunt," she explained. "I've been doing…other things. So, let me guess. That was Irina Spasky. She is a former Russian Spy. She was accompanied by Ian and Natalie Kabra, the children of the leaders of the Lucian branch of the Cahill family. They are all, in fact, Lucians and part of the Hunt for the 39 clues. Am I correct?"

All three of her companions nodded slowly, so Crys continued. "I know who they are, but I do not know why they are here looking very, very angry at you." She raised an eyebrow in expectation, waiting for the explaination.

Dan grinned. "We sent them on fake trails. Irina to Morocco, and the Kabras to Lake Tash in Kyrgyzstan. Though, I would rather they took longer to catch up with us." He laughed in amusement.

Even Amy smiled at that.

"Ah," Crystallin said, laughing, "Still, you seem to be doing well. I know about the Kabras, and I wouldn't have thought they would ever listen to you, let alone enough to send them on a wild goose chase."

"We," Dan said triumphantly, "are in the lead. We got the first clue, the second, the third, and the forth, all ahead of the competition. Although, the third clue we found in the company of Alistair Oh and the Kabras. That's why they believed us; because they were there. Unfortunately for them, they fell for my trap and left before I gave the real hint to the next clue."

She nodded approvingly. "I like it. Sneaky, underhanded tricks—while not becoming a bastard yourself. Excellent. I could like you. So, what are you doing now?"

"Just a question; what branch are you in?" Dan asked.

"What branch are you in?" she responded smoothly.

"We don't know." Amy said it quietly, but the anger in her voice was obvious. Of course she wanted to know what branch that she was in. Unfortunately, Grace had not seen fit to tell them anything about the Cahill branches, so they did not know.

Crystallin smiled a secretive smile and stood up, bending over to kiss Amy on the cheek and slipping her a few thousand dollar bills.

"Here's a hint. I'd start heading towards England. Things are going to get nasty, and I heard that Mr. McIntyre is going to be calling everyone in due to Madrigal activity while they try to stop it. Toodles darlings!" waving her fingers at them, she danced away, back to the group she was with before. Several of the guys were huge, with muscles to spare. The other guys were just as tall, but slender, with more of a runner or fighters build, instead of a lifters build. All the girls were delicate looking, but you could see that they were dangerous. They all moved rather like predators, and there was strength in everything they did. Reaching them, Crystallin leaned in and murmured something, and they all got up and left.

The Lucians came back in moments later, but the Cahill siblings, along with Nellie, were already gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**People, school is about to start. When I think about it, it was pretty stupid of me to start these stories without the next chapter done. However, I did not. I am about to be dumped with homework, and will not be able to update as often. Sorry. Please, Review.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. Not Victoria's Secret, not the characters, nothing.**

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"How does she know that? Increased Madrigal activity? How would she know?" Dan muttered to himself, yet again. Amy and Nellie exchanged looks and rolled their eyes.

They were getting of a plane in Paris, because Nellie had insisted that they at least try to keep up with the opposition, and with all this extra money, they were going shopping. In the fashion capital of the world. Oh, joy.

It took them very little time to get to the shopping district, and then Nellie was dragging them into various shops. Apparently, Crystallin had given Nellie a list of the shops that they should go to, and they went to those as well as the ones Nellie wanted. So, they spent the next five hours going to various stores. It was rather painful for both the Cahills, but they saw her point. It was best to try to keep up with the competition in every way that they could.

They were in Victoria's Secret, where the girls were searching and Dan was cringing, when they got the phone call.

"It's that lawyer guy," Nellie muttered, checking the Caller-ID. "Think I should answer it?"

"Considering Crys's warning, it would be silly not to," Amy responded, picking up. "Hello?" There was a long pause as she listened to the other side of the phone. She nodded sharply, and then said, "I understand. Goodbye."

Hanging up, Amy looked at her brother and Nellie. "Crystallin was right. Mr. McIntyre has called in every single competitor. Apparently the Kabra's have offered their England residence for us to stay at until they have the Madrigal activity under control. We are expected by nine tonight, we are the last one's he got a hold of, and everyone will be arriving at the same time, no matter how far away they were. They are also closing the gates at nine, so let's try not to be late."

Nellie checked the time, and then gasped. "We only have fifteen minutes to get to the train! Come on!" Practically without pausing, she grabbed several bags, shoved the others into the sibling's hands, and dragged them from the store.

It took the three of them, with all of their bags, the better part of ten minutes to get to the station. It took them a further four to get their tickets, which means that they just barely got on the train in time. All three of them collapsed into seats with heartfelt sighs.

"We'll get to London at about seven thirty, and so that will give us enough time to get to the Kabra's." Nellie told them, before muttering under her breath, "I don't see why we couldn't go anywhere else, but no, we're going to the Cobras. Dang." Both Nellie and Dan exchanged glances, and then shot looks at Amy. She was reading calmly, seemingly not realizing that they were going to be spending an unspecified amount of time in close company of Ian Kabra. They wondered exactly that knowledge would set in.

Apparently, it took until, two and a half hours later, they were standing on the drive of a gigantic mansion that was the Kabra's English residence. They were the last to arrive, and the gates swung shut behind them, utterly silent. Ian and Natalie Kabra were standing on the huge front porch, with an older couple that looked just like them. Ian was practically his father's replica, and Natalie was remarkably similar in appearance to her mother as well. Amy stared at Ian, and her face went hard and cold, before she looked away, scanning the yard.

She soon nudged Dan and nodded in Irina's direction, stifling a laugh. She looked frustrated and furious, and it was all directed at both Mr. McIntyre and, of course, the Cahill siblings. Irina looked in their direction and spotted them both shaking with silent laughter. Amy smiled at Irina; Dan waved. The movement caught Natalie's attention, and she glared heavily at the Cahills. They simply ignored her. She scowled and turned back to her parents.

Jonah Wizard looked annoyed, but his displeasure seemed to be more spread out. Everyone seemed to be annoyed though, but Amy wasn't sure if that was because they didn't have any hints, or because they had been yanked out of the hunt. She shrugged.

Dan, meanwhile, was glaring at everyone. The Kabra's for being…well, Kabras; the Holts for being such stupid dolts; the Wizards for being annoying; Irina, because she kept getting in the way; Alistair for being a weasel; Bae Oh for locking them in a plastic box, and…you get the picture.

Mr. McIntyre went to stand in front of the porch and started gesturing to get everyone's attention. The Kabra's leaned delicately against the railings and looked bored. Everyone else stopped talking and looked at him.

"I am very sorry for the interruption of the hunt. Normally this sort of thing would not happen, but we have received warnings from the Madrigals, and we fear for everyone's safety. Therefore, until this problem has been solved, Mr. and Mrs. Kabra have graciously offered their home. And please, seeing as you are not on the hunt, there will be no attempts to get one another out of the race. You can exchange information, but no murder attempts." He walked away, already in deep conversation with another man. They quickly got in a car and left.

Everyone looked at one another and started to murmur.

"Everyone's safety?" Amy repeated quietly, "that must be big. After all, the Holts are hard to hurt, and the other's have their own considerable defenses." Both she and Dan shivered, remembering Natalie's dart gun.

"Yeah…" Dan muttered.

"SHH!" Nellie hissed. The Kabra's were talking.

"…servants will take you to your rooms, or you can explore the grounds."

"What did we miss?" Amy asked as they picked up their bags and moved towards the house.

"Meal's are from 6 to 10 in the morning for breakfast, 10 to 2 in the middle for lunch, then 5 to 10 for dinner. Speaking of, do you want to eat?"

"No, I'm not hungry," Amy said quickly.

"Well, I am," Dan announced. He gave all of the bags that he was carrying to the girls, then found a servant to take him to the dining room. The other two rolled their eyes and, collecting a servant, headed for their rooms.

It took them nearly ten minutes to reach the rooms that they had been given. Ten minutes of winding through corridors, up stair cases, and past doors until both Amy and Nellie were hopelessly confused.

The doors that the servant left them at opened into a large common room. There were three large windows, four couches, a desk with a laptop, and a television.

"Wow….." Nellie breathed. "I could like this place." She went to the walls and opened one of the doors.

"Bathroom," she reported. "A huge one." There were three other doors, which she opened one at a time. "Bedrooms. I'll take this one," Nellie dug in her bag until she found a Goth 'keep out' sign, which she took a vindictive pleasure in sticking to the door. "and you can pick one of the others.

Amy rolled her eyes and walked into the nearest room, dumping all of her bags unceremoniously on the bed. She then lugged all of Dan's bags into his room, leaving them by the bags that Nellie had already left.

Going back to her own room, Amy looked around it for the first time. It was an airy room, with light blue walls, and white furniture. Actually, a very nice room, she thought, unpacking. But then, they are ridiculously rich.

Amy pulled out a pair of pajamas, and went into the bathroom to change. For a moment, she simply stood in the doorway and stared. The counter was marble, and there were three baskets, filled with lotions, shampoos, conditioners, and other things that probably cost a ridiculous amount. Changing her mind, Amy went back into her room and pulled out all of her bathroom things, before returning to said bathroom and taking a long, blisteringly hot, relaxing shower.

After which, she staggered back to her room and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

Dan followed the guy through the giant house, looking around eagerly. The house was awesome. It was huge, with lots of…expensive stuff everywhere. The servant guy left him in front of a pair of double doors; opening them, he poked his head in. Nellie was sprawled on one of the couches, head bobbing to some tune on her ipod. Dan grinned.

"Where's Amy?" he asked loudly, dropping beside her.

Nellie blinked at him for a moment before taking her earbuds out.

"Huh?"

"Amy. My sister, really dorky? Where is she?"

"Sleeping," Nellie replied, pointing towards one of the doors. "Stay here for the rest of the night, ok? You need rest, and so do I."

Dan scowled. They never let him go anywhere. He trudged over to the door that Nellie pointed to and opened it. Amy was curled in a little ball, sound asleep. She looked cute.

Shutting the door, Dan moved over to the other blank door and went inside, shutting the door behind him. He quickly changed, then hopped into bed himself. It did not take long before he was sound asleep.

* * *

The next morning dawned bright. Very bright. And, seeing as the Cahill siblings rooms were on the east side of the house, all that light went straight into their windows, and therefore, their eyes. Early.

Amy was the first up, staggering into the bathroom and taking another shower, just because she could. She finally got dressed in some of her favorite new clothes. The deep black, satin dress had a low cut, tight bodice, sweeping skirts, and sleeves that were long and loose—sort of like the ones that you find on old style gowns—and were decorated with silver embroidery.

"Wow," she whispered.

"Wow," Nellie said, stopping dead outside her door.

"Who…Amy? Holy COW!"

She blushed hotly, turning to face them. They had all gotten nice clothes, and this did seem to be the sort of time to wear them.

"This is a m-m-mansion. That means ev-everyone is rich. We should at least try." She tried to snap; it came out sounding rather feeble.

Dan grinned suddenly. "Yeah. Let's show them how good we are!" he darted off into his room, and Amy and Nellie could hear him rummaging in his bags. Nellie grinned and went into her own room.

Amy went over to the couch to wait, gingerly sitting down. She quickly stood back up, and then started practicing how to sit down without ruining her dress. It was necessary. She would not be laughed at.

Dan came back wearing a suit. At first he scowled, but then, moving to the mirror, he decided that he looked pretty good. Nellie came back, in a white silk shirt and black pants.

"Just a minute, let me fix this," Nellie promised, pulling Amy into the bathroom. Nellie put mascara and a bit of lipstick on Amy, then did the same for herself. After that she put silver glitter eye shadow on them both before going back into the main room. "Let's go eat," she suggested, smiling darkly, surveying her charges.

Amy looked striking, her dark red hair flowing loose over her back, her deep green eyes framed and enhanced, the gown catching the eye and drawing it down the body. Dan looked equally good, his hair casually mussed, but his clothes pristine. Nellie knew that she looked good as well, but also that she did not matter as much.

"Lets," Amy agreed, no trace of her stutter remaining. Perhaps it was her reflection in the mirror; perhaps not. But she was much more confident, anyhow.

Dan opened the doors, then closed them after they had all left. The servant standing at the corner looked rather stunned, but finally asked if he could lead them to the dining hall. They were, he told them, the last ones up. Nellie smiled, and Amy nodded.

In the five minutes that it took to reach the dining hall, the servant kept looking at them sidelong, a strange expression in his eyes.

Reaching the hall, he opened the door and bowed them through. Dan and Nellie grinned at the way he was focused on Amy. Dan extended his arm to Amy, and she took it with a smile.

Dan had time to think, _Thank God Aunt B. signed us up for dance lessons_, before they glided into the huge, lofty room. Nellie followed behind, shutting the door behind her. The soft _thud_ of the closing door caused everyone to look up. It caused the three of them immense pleasure when more than a few jaws hit the floor.

Amy sat down on the closest end of the table, and Nellie and Dan sat on both sides of her. The rest of the Cahills were spread out over the table, arguing amongst themselves, eating with a single minded intensity, or reading. Alistair nodded to them; they nodded back. Irina glared, the Holts, after a few minutes, returned their attention to their food. Jonah Wizard and the Kabras however, simply stared. And stared and stared and stared.

Amy looked around the room and noticed all of the servants standing around. She beckoned to one, and she quickly moved over. Amy smiled_. I think that I'm getting the hang of this_, the thought while the servant handed her a small pad of paper and a pen. She quickly wrote out three notes, and then handed them back to the servant with a directional murmur. She smiled slightly as the servant handed the notes to Jonah Wizard, Ian Kabra, and Natalie Kabra, and then turned her attention to the gourmet meal in front of her.

* * *

Ian Kabra listened to his sister and Jonah Wizard, sitting next to him and across from his sister, argue. He sighed, and looked down the table again, wondering where the last of their…guests…were.

Natalie scowled at her brother, guessing where his thoughts were. "Pay attention," she hissed at him. His eyes snapped back to hers, and he glowered at her. She just smiled back at him before turning back to Jonah, pleased that he was paying attention to her now. "So those brats sent you to Paris? Well, you're lucky. They had us on a wild goose chase in the middle of no where. My shoes were ruined!" Ian and Jonah both coughed, trying to hide their laughter.

The soft _thud_ of the closing door commanded everyone's attention, and the three of them looked up. And promptly froze in shock.

Standing in the entrance was quite possibly the most beautiful girl Ian had ever seen, in quite possibly the most beautiful dress he had ever seen. And the two of them together created the most beautiful angel he could imagine.

Shooting a quick look at Jonah, he noticed a stunned and dazed and vacant look on his face. He frowned for a moment, then turned back to the girl. She was on the arm of a boy who, Ian thought, really did not look good at all. They glided to the absolute other end of the table, and sat down. It was the older girl who followed them to clarified who they were.

_Holy crap, _both boys thought weakly. _Who would have thought that the stuttering mouse was so damn __**hot**__?_

It also took Nellie to get Natalie to realize who they were. She was more focused on Dan, however. And he looked good. His hair was rumpled, giving him the impression of just getting out of bed (absolute truth), but his perfect clothes indicated plenty of care (not truth). _Wow_, she thought.

They saw Amy nod to someone else—they didn't check to see who it was—before meeting their eyes, one at a time. They didn't look away, and noticed that Amy was the only one paying attention to the room. The other two were focused on the food, only talking to one another and Amy.

After a few moments, Amy summoned a servant, wrote something, and sent the servant their way. It wasn't until they recived the notes that Amy smiled smugly and started eating. One glace at the note told them why.

_Take a picture,_ she had written in elegant handwriting, _It will last longer_.

Ian smiled, Jonah grinned. Natalie hissed in anger.

"I cannot believe that she caught me staring," Ian muttered.

"I know man," Jonah agreed. "But she is totally hot, you know?"

Ian grimaced at Jonah's choice of words, but nodded at the same time.

They turned their attention to their meal, but kept shooting glances. Even Natalie, try as she might not to, did.

They ate the rest of their breakfast in silence.

Ian finished first, and stood up, nodding to Jonah and Natalie. He reached the other end just as Amy was finishing. Ian coughed slightly, and Amy, Dan, and Nellie all looked up at him, the latter two distrustfully, Amy incredulously.

"Would you like to see our library?" he asked her, ignoring the others.

Down at the other end of the table, Jonah heard, and hissed. "That's the last time I eat more than he does," he muttered ominously. Natalie sniffed.

* * *

Amy glanced at her brother, and he shook his head quickly. Nellie glowered at Ian. Amy gave him a lukewarm smile. "I'm sure some of the servants could show me the way," She informed him coolly.

Ian blinked, astonished. He hadn't thought that she would _refuse_!

Amy stood up, gave him a rather cold look, and then swept out. Dan stood up after a second of controlling himself at Ian's face.

"Leave my sister be," he snapped, before he followed Amy out. Nellie quickly stood up and glared at Ian. "Leave us alone. We don't want anything to do with you, or your…anything." Nellie stormed out, shutting the door behind you.

There was a moment of silence, and then most of the people sitting at the table started laughing. Ian stiffened, took several deep breaths, before stalking out of the room, through the house, and into his own suite. He summoned the housekeeper, the main servant, and started pacing. The woman stood there, waiting, for several minutes before Ian Kabra realized that she was there. He stopped as soon as he realized that she was there. It would never do for anyone to see him nervous.

"If Amy Cahill summons any servants, they are to bring her here, to me," he ordered. The housekeeper nodded once and left the room. Ian Kabra would never know that she had rolled her eyes hugely at his possessive behavior. _Young love_, she thought wryly. _They think that the world is theirs. Of course, he does have more than his fair share of the world, but still. The point_…

"Are you sure that was a good plan?" Natalie hissed, coming in and slamming the door. "You are a Kabra, a Lucian, one of the most powerful, most influential people in the world. And you're consorting with a …. This is not a good plan, Ian. Mother and Father will be disappointed, you'll lose us clues. You have to leave her alone.

"I will leave her be if you ignore Daniel," he snarled back venomously. Natalie stared at her older brother, stunned. She floundered, trying to tell him that that idiot had nothing of interest to her…but she had not been able to stop thinking about him since breakfast, and it was obvious in her eyes.

"I…"

Ian sneered at her. "In that case, sister dear, if you leave me be, I will leave you be. Understood?"

She glowered at him, and then turned and stalked out of the room, slamming the doors behind her. Ian glared at the doors for another long moment, then turned to a mirror, studying himself.

He was tall, with creamy skin, which was emphasized by the pale suit he wore. His silky black hair was in a windblown style, a casual, styled mess. He nodded to himself, satisfied with his appearance.

The mirror was directly opposite the door, so when it started to slowly open he saw it immediately. He did not, however, turn around. He waited, his eyes on the reflected door.

Amy slid inside and closed the door. She turned to face the room. Her eyes widened in shock, before she found Ian, standing in front of the mirror. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

So he thought that this was funny, did he? Well, she didn't find it funny at all.

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**Cliffie! **_**Review**_**, or else!!!!!!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Amy slid inside and closed the door. She turned to face the room. Her eyes widened in shock, before she found Ian, standing in front of the mirror. Her eyes narrowed dangerously._

_So he thought that this was funny, did he? Well, she didn't find it funny at all._

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"I wasn't aware that you had a sitting room connected to your library," she said smoothly, coldly. She glided across the room, towards one of the doors.

Ian got in front of her quickly, blocking her access to his bedroom.

"This is not the library," he said, rather stiffly. He was beginning to regret his foolishness, and almost wished that she had just gone to the library, and had the servant let him know, so that Ian could go at his leisure. _Stupid_! He chided himself.

"Obviously," she purred. _Odd, how confident a good dress can make you,_ she thought. "Well, I would say that it was a pleasure to see you, but I would be lying. Good bye," Amy turned and stalked towards the door, but Ian moved in front of her again.

"Perhaps I could lead you there?" he suggested. Her eyes went into slits. Ian waited. If she wanted to find the library, then she had to accept a guide. The servant was long gone by now, and this was, of course, the family wing, so no one else was around.

"Very well," she finally consented, speaking rather formally.

Ina smiled triumphantly, and took her arm to guide her out of his room and down the hall.

Inside, Amy was fuming. She could not believe that she had gotten into this. Walking down the hall of his family's private wing with Ian frickin' Kabra! Outside, however, she looked impassive, as though she did not care a bit about what was happening.

Ian glanced at her sidelong. He liked her, he did. But she…

"I'm sorry," he finally blurted out.

She didn't even respond. She was infuriating!

"About?" she finally asked, her voice still cold. It amazed him, how all of a sudden she wasn't the pathetic, stuttering Amy Cahill, but rather a strong, defiant Cahill. He really hoped that she turned out to be a Lucian. She sighed softly, and Ian suddenly remembered that she was waiting for a response.

"I'm sorry about what happened in Korea. But in the hunt for the Clues, everything is legal. Besides, you tricked us!"

Amy stopped in the middle of the hall, and then turned to face Ian, her eyes flashing angrily.

"First of all, I do not believe for one minute that you are honestly sorry about anything you do. You think that you are perfect, and the world was created to do your bidding. Second, I do not all attempted murder legal, so I do not forgive you. Third, how dare you turn this around so that it was our fault that you left us for dead in that cave!"

"Well, if you hadn't trusted us—"

"Oh yes, did you think that I did not realize how foolish that it was to trust you? I know that very well, thank you." She whirled and started back down the hall way. Ian speed up to keep pace with her, before stopping in front of the door to the library.

"Here," he said quietly, opening the door. She stalked past the young Kabra heir, disappearing into the stacks, her every manor radiating anger. He started to follow her in, but her voice stopped him.

"Go away, Kabra. I need to be alone right now, and I would not react well to seeing you." Ian hesitated, trying to decide weather or not to ignore that threat.

"Don't push your luck," a dark voice warned. Ian turned around, and glared at Daniel.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he demanded angrily.

Dan grinned. "She is in a library, surrounded by big, thick, heavy books that can be used as weapons. You made a serious mistake. Leave." And with that, he walked into the room, followed by Nellie, who smirked at him before slamming the door shut in his face.

* * *

"Asshole," Nellie grumbled as she followed Dan into the stacks of books. They quickly found Amy, and soon after found a table that was surrounded by armchairs. Nellie flung herself down with a groan that sounded suspiciously like 'damn Kabra's'. Amy and Dan grinned at each other, before sitting down more carefully.

"So," Dan began, trailing off as he looked at his older sister.

"I asked a servant to help me find the library, but instead I was dumped at Kabra's room." She made a face. "He took me to the library. That's all Dan, really. I hate him."

Dan nodded, as did Nellie.

"He's not good enough for you, Amy." Nellie told her. "You'll find someone for you, don't worry." Amy had to smile. She was getting council in love from her Au Pair. Not something she had expected, per say.

"This place is huge," Dan said seriously, leaning forwards. "It has at least five floors, and a basement, about seven 'wings', a gym, and some other things. It's so awesome!" Amy laughed. Of course the ninja loving Dan would think that. It has so much scope for him.

There was a strange buzz, seriously out of place here. Dan and Nellie looked around, until Amy gasped in surprise and opened her little purse, pulling out her new cell phone. "What in the world…" she muttered. "How did anyone get this number? Ummm…Hello?"

"Darling!"

"Crystallin?"

"Yes?"

"How in the name of all that is holy did you get this number?"

"Simple. I went into the same store you got your phone from and asked for your number. The lady gave it to me."

"Are you stalking me?"

"No, I just needed a way to communicate with you, and didn't know if you remembered my email. I certainly don't know yours. Sorry."

"You are very strange, Crys."

"Yes, I know. James, put that down!" there was a pause, then Amy heard a crash in the background, before Crys was back. "Sorry about that dear, just him being a fool…as always…anyways, I dug up some information on you and your brother. We are in London, so I can send a cab to pick you up if you want to come see us," Crystallin offered.

"Umm… just a minute. Let me talk to my brother. I'll call you back?"

"Sure. You have my number."

Amy hung up her cell phone, stunned.

"Amy?"

The young girl looked up and focused on her brother, who was watching her in concern. She blinked, still trying to work through her thoughts.

"Are you alright?" That was Nellie, leaning forward and looking at the girl closely.

"I…yes…um…" Amy paused and took a deep breath to compose herself. "Crystallin says that she has information on us. I think she means that she knows what our branch is."

There was a moment of silence as Dan simply stared at Amy in shock.

"Cool!" He finally burst out, jumping up. "What branch?"

"I don't know, she said that she wanted to tell us that in person." Amy told him, getting a little excited herself, if only because she had been wondering for a while now. She and Nellie exchanged glances, and then watched in amusement as Dan started pacing.

"Can we go see her, then?" He demanded.

Amy simply nodded, and called Crystallin back. The phone rang twice before…

"Darling! So, what time should the cab get there?"

"How about…" Amy paused, remembering that there was some kind of gathering all afternoon. "Tomorrow morning?" She said, quickly changing what she had been going to say.

"Sure. It'll be there around ten. Toodles!"

"We will be picked up tomorrow at ten. And if we don't hurry, we are going to be late to that meeting that Mr. McIntyre insisted on."

"Oh, man!" Dan cried, annoyed. The three of them hurried through the halls, before stopping in front of the huge dining room doors.

They walked in, a little late. Everyone there looked at them scornfully. They hadn't been late. Amy fought the blush, but it came anyway, and she slowly turned a dark red.

They quickly moved over and sat down.

The table had been removed, and the chairs were spread out all over the room. The three of them sat down in the remaining chairs and waited. Mr. McIntyre looked around the room before standing up to speak.

"I understand that this clue hunt is very important to everyone here," he began. Muttering broke out all over the room. The tone of his voice—along with the words—were not exactly good, and everyone feared the worst. "But you all need to get along. Once I leave, the doors are going to be locked, and you will all be trapped here until dark. Killing anyone will be taken badly." He turned and left. As the Cahills sat in stunned silence, they heard the lock click from the other side of the door.

"Oh. My. God." Amy groaned out.

"Seriously," Nellie agreed. "This is, like, totally uncool."

"What time is it Amy," Dan asked slowly, his eyes on Ian Kabra.

"A little past noon." She announced. "The sun won't set until at least after eight o'clock. We have at least eight hours. More like nine though, going by my luck." She muttered that last little bit under her breath, and only Dan and Nellie heard. They both grimaced in understanding.

Amy looked around. The different teams were huddled together, talking in hushed voices.

Alistair Oh had gotten up and was coming their way.

"Uncle Alistair!" Amy cried as he reached them. She stood and gave him a hug, taking the opportunity to whisper in his ear. "We still don't trust you, you know, but this should keep the others on their toes."

Dan smiled at their uncle, but did not hug him.

"So," Alistair said, sitting down in the chair Amy offered him. "What do you think of this?" he waved a hand generally. Alistair watched as the two siblings exchanged a glance. Amy smiled slightly.

"I think he is crazy," she said simply, smiling. "It is like locking a bunch of rabid cats in a room together. This cannot end well." Dan grinned, rolling his eyes. "Understatement," Nellie commented, watching as the occupants of the room started to look narrowly around the room. "This is going to end in a spectacularly bad way," she predicted.

"Oh, look," Amy murmured. "Here comes the Wizard star."

"Hey, Amy…and company." Jonah announced as he came closer. "Wana talk?"

"Not to you, not to anyone like you, not to anyone in this room…so no. I do not 'wana' talk." She paused, then tipped her head to the side. "In fact, I do not even want to breathe the same air as you, so if you could go away, I would love it."

Jonah, and everyone else for that matter, stared at Amy in astonishment. She was so timid, that to hear her this way was shocking.

"Ah…"

"Go. Away."

He did. Jonah walked over to where Ian Kabra was standing, and the two of them started talking in low tones. Amy watched them for a moment before turning back to her brother and Nellie.

"See? Not a problem." She smiled. "We just have another seven and a half hours of hell." Dan and Nellie groaned. "Hell indeed."

* * *

Natalie shifted restlessly. They had been in here for hours. She was bored, hungry, and irritated. She was also trapped in the same room as Daniel Cahill for an extended period of time, and she knew it. "What time is it?" she demanded. Meaning, 'How much longer do you have to suffer?' Mr. McIntyre might have wanted to the Cahill family to get along, but that didn't work. Everyone had kept to their own groups, Alistair Oh being the only one to branch out, and after and hour he had gone back to being alone. Nothing had been accomplished except to make all of the Cahill teams angry.

"One more hour, at the worst," Amy called from the corner that the Cahill siblings had claimed as their own. Unlike the other teams, who had gotten bored very quickly, they had stayed occupied. Amy had been carrying a bag, and pulled out of it several books on Cahill history that Natalie had recognized as being from the Kabra library. They had spent the past seven hours reading those books, and learning more about their family.

Natalie lost the last bits of her patience. She stood up abruptly and stalked over to where Amy and Dan were whispering over one of the books. As she got closer, they both fell silent and stared at her.

"I am so bored, I am even willing to spend time with you losers." She announced, smiling seductively at Dan. He just stared at her, unmoving.

"What do you want, Kabra?" Nellie asked rudely.

Natalie sneered elegantly at the babysitter. "Just something to deprive the boredom," she said innocently. Nellie's eyes narrowed. _There is nothing innocent about her,_ she thought.

"Here." Amy tossed Natalie the biggest book there, a book that not even Amy could read easily. Natalie scowled at Amy; Amy only raised an eyebrow. "Do you want to read it, or not?"

"No!" Natalie snapped, shoving the book back to Amy. "I want to talk."

"About what?"

"Not to you!" Natalie sounded frustrated, and turned to face Dan in exasperation. "Is she always like this?" she demanded.

"Pretty much," Dan said slowly, his voice guarded. "What do you want?"

Natalie frowned. "I just want to talk. Is that really so strange?"

"Yes!" Nellie snapped.

"Yes!" Dan growled.

"SHHH!" Amy hissed. Everyone looked at her. Then they heard what she had heard. The sound of a key turning in a lock.

"Yes!"

"It's about time!"

"Good god, why did we even have to do this?"

Then the doors were open, and the Holts had literally shoved their way out, followed by Irina. Everyone else left too, and Amy, after picking up the books, followed.

Dan and Nellie helped to put all the books back in the library, then they went back to their room. There was food in the common room, because after all, they had missed dinner.

Dan and Nellie both immediately sat down and started eating. Amy merely nibbled, thinking hard.

"Make sure that you are ready to go by nine thirty, tomorrow." She reminded them.

Dan froze, mid-bite. He hastily swallowed. "I'd totally forgotten all about that!"

"Then it's a good thing that I remembered," Amy muttered. She shook herself, then looked up at her brother and Nellie. She smiled. "I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow," she called over her shoulder.

As she fell into bed, a sense of excitement came over her, even as she fell asleep. _Tomorrow,_ she thought_, tomorrow everything will change._

She had no idea just how right she was.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

**REVIEW!**

**I do realize that it will almost always seem like forever before I update again, and I apologize. I hate high school.**

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	4. Chapter 4

_As she fell into bed, a sense of excitement came over her, even as she fell asleep. _Tomorrow_, she thought, _tomorrow everything will change.

_She had no idea just how right she was._

* * *

Amy blinked, dazed. The bright light shining over her seemed to indicate that she needed to do something, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what. Rolling over, Amy buried her face in her pillow. Now, what had she been thinking about?

With a gasp, Amy sat bolt upright, memories from yesterday rolling through her mind. She twisted around and stared at the clock by her bed for a few seconds, before…

"Oh, no!"

Nine o'clock. She had an hour to get ready, get dressed, and get Nellie and Dan ready to go. She groaned, and then jumped out of bed. Darting into the main room, she banged on both her brothers and Nellie's doors and told them to 'get up!' before jumping into the shower.

It was a very good thing for them that Nellie and Dan were up and dressed, with breakfast ordered when Amy got out of said shower, or she probably would have killed them.

"So, any guesses as to what is going to happen when we meet up with Crystallin this afternoon? Or morning?" Amy frowned thoughtfully.

Dan shrugged. "From what you've told me about her, she will likely wind us up, then spring what branch we belong to with a bang. I will be happy, and you will be annoyed with her, and Nellie will just want to know what this means for the hunt." He grinned when Amy and Nellie's jaws both dropped. "I am amazing, aren't I?"

Amy shook her head in astonishment. "You are so weird, Dan, you know that?" she asked him. He shrugged.

There was a knock on the door, which Nellie answered. She came back in with a huge tray covered in food. All three of them fell on the food, eating quickly. After all, the ride that Crystallin had promised would be at the mansion in a little under twenty minutes. However, good food can only be eaten so quickly, so when the five minutes left mark came, they had only eaten half. Still, they got up and left, moving quickly through the halls after one of the ever present servants, having asked him to take them to the front door as quickly as possible.

They were wearing much the same as they had worn yesterday, with Dan in a dark suit, Nellie in her traditional but still much better clothes, and Amy in a gown. However, today Amy's dress was a silver white, just as striking against her red hair.

They managed to get to the door right on time, and sure enough, their ride was just pulling up to the Kabra's mansion.

"A limo?" Dan gasped, grinning wildly. "AWESOME!" Amy sighed, and Nellie rolled her eyes at him.

"Come on, just get in the car," Amy said, sliding into the limo herself. Dan followed eagerly, and Nellie brought up the rear. They all looked around the inside of the limousine, interested. After all, none of them had ever been inside a limo before.

There was a flat screen TV, a little fridge, quite possibly the most comfortable seats that Amy had ever felt, and pretty much everything else that comes to mind when you think of a limousine.

"Wow," Dan said, digging through the mini-fridge. "This is so cool. Is that a beer?"

"Oh, no." Nellie snapped, grabbing the beer and tossing it back in the fridge before slamming the door shut. "I don't think so. I am in charge here, and there is no frickin' way that I am going to let you get drunk, or even touch alcohol."

Dan scowled at her, and then flopped back against the seats, glowering. Amy rolled her eyes at her brother's back before turning back to the window, trying unsuccessfully to see out of it in order to figure out were they were going. She was also trying to shake the feeling that they were going much faster than they were supposed to be going.

It only took them half an hour to get to…wherever they were. The three of them climbed out of the limo, in front of a large, stone mansion, obviously very expensive.

"Wow," Dan muttered. "Hardcore." The security wasn't obvious, but it was, very clearly, _there_. Thankfully, before they had a chance to freak out over the security, Crystallin appeared in the doorway, beckoning them into the giant house. Amy, Dan and Nellie hurried over to her, looking around in amazement.

"What is this place?" Dan gasped, excited.

"My home," she told him, smiling slightly, mysteriously. "Come on, let's talk in the library." She led the Cahills through the halls of the mansion, reaching the library quickly.

The large, airy room had a welcoming air, and even Dan was fascinated by the subjects on the shelves. Eventually, however, Amy and Dan settled down to listen to Crystallin.

"So, what branch are we?" Dan asked, excited.

Crystallin smiled slightly. "Well, from what we could tell, you're a Lucian—"

"But I hate them!" Dan growled.

"No, you only hate some of the Lucians, you don't hate the branch itself. It isn't evil. The Lucian branch deals with intelligence—you know spies. They also have assassins, secret agents, that sort of thing. Give it a little effort, and you'd fit in pretty well there." Dan stared at her. "The branch itself isn't evil," Crystallin told him firmly. "Think about it. A huge majority of the world's leaders are Lucians. They do good things." Sort of, she added silently.

Dan opened his mouth to protest more, but then paused, and thought about it.

"You're right," he finally decided. Crystallin raised an eyebrow, smirking. "They aren't all bad." Dan paused. "When do we eat?" he asked, obviously eager to leave the awkward conversation behind.

Crystallin smiled at him. "I'm sure that if you head down to the kitchen, you can get some scraps before we eat in a…" she checked her watch quickly before looking back at him, "in a half hour."

Dan nodded, his face mock-serious, before he darted out of the room.

"Does he even know where the kitchen is?" Crystallin asked the air, amused. Nellie sighed, and got up.

"Look, stay here girl. She can bring you to the kitchen later, and I'm sure you want to check out these books. I'll go find your crazy brother." Nellie walked out the door, muttering to herself. Amy laughed quietly. It was just so like Dan to run off, and Nellie would take that seriously, after all the times that he had gotten himself in trouble. Amy stood up so that she could wander around the room, but stopped when a cool hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled her back into her seat.

"Wait," Crystallin told her, her tone serious.

Amy stared at her friend, noting her serious face, and slowly realized that she was getting nervous as well.

"What is it?" Amy asked her, her voice steady.

"_Technically_, you and your brother are Lucians." The stressing on the 'technically' was certainly not lost on Amy, whose eyes narrowed. "But in reality, only your brother is. You are something else entirely."

Amy stared at her friend in blatant astonishment.

"Then what the heck am I?" she demanded.

"You're like me. You, my dear, are a Madrigal."

* * *

**OH!!!!!!!!!!!Cliffie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!You know you love me. *Dodges several thrown objects.* OK, OK!!!! I'm working on it.**

**I know this was really short, but I couldn't resist**. _**REVIEW!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_Amy stared at her friend in blatant astonishment._

"_Then what the heck am I?" she demanded. _

"_You're like me. You, my dear, are a Madrigal."_

* * *

Amy closed her eyes, frantically. The stars in front of her eyes whirled, leaving her dizzy and faintly nauseous. Amy breathed deeply, trying to regain control. She felt a hand on her forehead, and heard Crystallin's voice as if through a tunnel. "Amy?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Her own voice sounded distant. Amy slowly opened her eyes, and the library came back into view, thankfully no longer moving. She slowly turned to face Crystallin. "I'm sorry, but for a moment there, I thought that you just said that I was a _Madrigal_. That's ridiculous. If Dan's a Lucian, then so am I."

Crystallin sighed. "I was afraid that you'd take it like this. It's a pity that Grace couldn't have explained things better before she died," she mused to herself. "This would be so much easier." Crys looked back at Amy. "Please, just forget everything that you thought you knew about the Madrigals. Let me explain."

"Madrigals are evil!" Amy cried, leaping up. "You try to destroy the clues—"

"Of course we do. Don't you have any idea what would happen if one of the branches got their hands on all 39 clues?"

Amy whirled to face her and opened her mouth. Unbidden, images rose up in her mind. Grace, setting all the teams against each other in the hunt. The burning mansion. The explosion at the museum. Everything dangerous that had happened to her, because of the branches battling for the clues. Ian, locking her in the cave, betraying her. Irina, trying to kill Dan with poison. Image after image flowed through her mind, until she felt ill.

"It would be war," she breathed, collapsing back into her chair. "Branch on branch. Oh, god. That…" she trailed off, at a loss for words.

"Exactly," Crystallin said softly. Amy stared at her, green eyes hard.

"And what, exactly, do you do to stop that?" she asked, her voice as hard as her eyes.

"We hunt for the clues, and when we find them, we try to destroy them, or hide them. It is not a good idea to leave them, with the other branches out there. We have already found twenty three of the clues, and completely destroyed the traces of fifteen. The other eight we hid the best we could. We also have people in every imaginable profession. We actually care about the world, and do what we can to help it survive humans." Crystallin paused for breath.

"What did you mean about Grace?" Amy asked abruptly.

"She was one of us, a Madrigal. She was raising you the way she did because she hoped you would turn out to be Madrigals. Obviously, she succeeded with you. Your brother, however, has no wish to be one of us."

"How can you tell?" Amy asked, fascinated.

"He is still a child, wanting to have fun. You, on the other hand, are serious, and you want to help the world. A Madrigal, as opposed to a self-helping Cahill."

"What if I don't want to be a Madrigal? What if I want to be a Lucian?"

"There are ways to erase memories," Crystallin said calmly. "You would forget we had this conversation, and you and your brother would join the Lucian branch. However, I do not think that you will do that. I know you, Amy."

Amy bit her lip. It did seem like that was something that she would do. Amy looked at Crystallin for a long moment, thinking hard. Crystallin sat back and waited, her eyes steady on Amy's face.

"What about Dan? He may not think so now, but give him an hour in the Lucian branch, and he will be incredibly loyal. His main problem this far was that we weren't really members of any branch, so none of them could accept us. But we are powerful, intelligent, and would be good in the Lucian branch. So, what about Dan?" Amy stared at Crystallin, noting how her expression had saddened. "I can't tell him, can I? I have to just leave."

"I'm sorry, Amy."

There was a long pause. Then, "I'll do it."

And so it began.

Within an hour, Amy Cahill had all of her things in her new room in England's Madrigal Headquarters. She was an emancipated minor, had met everyone else in the branch that was actually there, and had fallen in with Crystallin and her friends.

Nellie and Dan had gone back to the Kabra's, too excited to notice the tone in Amy's voice when she told them goodbye. They thought that she would be coming back later, after she had caught up with her friends. She wouldn't, of course.

By the time that night fell, the E hall had the clues that she and Dan had found, and were working to find the next ones.

(E hall: the scientific/inventors/'those educated people', named after the Ekaterina branch. The L hall: the intelligence hall, dealing with spy work and main leadership (Lucian). The T hall, the defense hall (Thomas), pretty much explains itself, and the J hall, the artist's hall. That hall covered basically everything else.)

Amy lay down on her bed and sighed to herself. Everything that she knew was about to change.

* * *

Two years later…

She sat up in bed abruptly, head cocked, listening. There was a pause, and then she heard the sound again. Her eyes narrowed. The sixteen year old girl slid out of her bed and soundlessly over to the door. She reached over and picked a pair of knives off of her table, before slipping out the door. Her three companions were exiting their rooms as well. It wasn't until a scream echoed from downstairs that they put it together. She wasn't sure how the Lucian's had found them, but it didn't matter. They would be long gone by the time that they got upstairs.

Almost before that thought was finished, Amy was in her room, grabbing her bag, and slipping out her window. She, along with three other shadows, climbed quickly to the ground, before taking off.

The four of them were fast runners. They had to be, to get the jobs that they had. They were Madrigal agents, sent out to collect the last of the 39 clues. They had gotten it—they always did. It had been foolish of them to stay the night, but it had been very late when they had retrieved the clue, and had just wanted sleep after getting through the killer maze. It was foolish, but at least slightly productive. They knew that the Lucians were on their trail, but they didn't have the clue. The girl smiled. They wouldn't get it, either. Some things can survive a ten ton slab of rock falling on it, but a delicate vase is not one of them. The clue was safe, stored only in her mind.

None of them said a word until they reached the Mercedes that they had hidden the day before. Silently, they slid into the car, one of the boys behind the wheel. They were on the road for a good five minutes before Amy started to laugh.

"That's it. It's over. All thirty-nine clues, accounted for." She said, delighted.

The tension in the car broke, and all four of them were laughing before they knew it. It was hard to believe, that something that big was just….over. Jack twisted in his seat to grin at her, completely ignoring the fact that he was still driving. She rolled her eyes at him, and he turned back to face the road.

"I just can't wait to see Sara," he said, the grin evident in his voice. "She owes me two thousand bucks. She didn't think that we'd finish it this year." Amy snorted. "I know, crazy, isn't it?"

"Just drive, Jack. You're about to miss our turn off." She told him. He swore, and jerked the car over onto the smaller side street. Everyone laughed.

An hour later, they were in the air. The clue had been found in the far northern reaches of Siberia, and now the group of hunters were headed back to the Himalaya Mountains, which was the current headquarters location of the Madrigals. The Headquarters changed every year, with the election of the new leaders.

Amy looked around at her companions. Her family, really. Jack, her best friend. For the past year, they had been dating on and off, unable to decide if their relationship was that of girlfriend/boyfriend, or sister/brother. They were dating at the moment, and his arm was wrapped comfortably around her. His sandy blonde hair and blue eyes caught the light as he smiled at her. She smiled back. Jack was an incredibly strong guy, and could use almost any weapon known to man-kind.

On Jack's other side was Leah, a girl who was only a year older than Amy, at seventeen. She had long blonde hair, and was a master of disguise. She and Amy were absolutely sisters. Then there was also Zachary, or Zack. He was the comedian of the group, always the one to make the jokes. He was also a master thief.

As for Amy herself, she had changed a great deal from the girl she had been two years ago. Then, she had been afraid, without knowing anything about this world, while her intelligence was one of the few reasons that she and her brother were still alive. Today, she was tall and confident, all traces of her stutter gone. She was a master of several kinds of hand to hand combat, had honed her intelligence, and was able to use anything around her, including her beauty, as a weapon. She was the leader of the hunting group, and in the middle of the young Madrigals leadership circle. Then, she had been heartbroken. Now, she was a heartbreaker. Amazing what a few years would change, after all.

Her brother, Dan, had changed a lot as well. He was just as powerful in the Lucian branch as the Kabra's, now. He had joined with the Kabra's in their Clue hunting, once Amy left. He was the ninja he had always wanted to be, and a master spy as well. He was strong and confident. Amy smiled to herself in pride. It was good that he had gotten over her leaving. He had never understood it, and for the longest time, he had tried to find her. But she was a Madrigal, and they were not easily found. She had accepted that he wasn't part of her life anymore.

But now the last of the Clues had been found, hopefully that would change. She would maybe be able to send him emails or something.

But a moment later, Amy shook her head. That was impossible. She couldn't risk the rest of her people for her own happiness. Besides, she still kept an eye on him. That was enough.

"Hey," Jack's voice said, interrupting her thoughts. Amy turned to him, raising an eyebrow. He smiled at her. "You need to stop thinking about your brother. It makes you sad." He leaned in and kissed her, effectively silencing her. Once he pulled back, she smiled at him.

"I just had to destroy one of my fantasies. That would make anyone sad," she murmured. He hugged her slightly, and she leaned back against him with a sigh.

Go to sleep, she told herself. It'll feel better in the morning.

***

_It does feel better in the morning_, she thought to herself, walking over to her window the next day. Watching the sun rise over the mountains had always been comforting to her. Maybe it was that there was something in the majesty of it, or maybe it was the impossible beauty. Whatever the reason, it was why she had always been up at sunrise here. It made her feel at peace, like she could face anything.

So when she walked into the dinning hall a few minutes later, she didn't instantly turn and walk back out when a loud clamor broke out about the Clues. She merely smiled, and kept walking. She sat down beside Jack and Leah, and Zack slid into a seat a few moments later. The two girls exchanged looks, and then rolled their eyes. He must have been following her, keeping everyone else away. It was just something that he would do. Amy didn't really mind—that habit had saved her purse more than once.

"You have an appointment with the E hall in half and hour," Jack said in a low voice. He flashed a smile. "It's time to see what this all powerful thing is."

Amy smiled back at them. "Long past time," she agreed. "Lets get this done."

* * *

**So, there you go. The next chapter. Now, reviews are the purpose of my life. The more I get, the harder I work, so the faster the updates. Comprende?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

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	6. Chapter 6

The four halls in the Madrigal bases were strange, and if you didn't know your way around them, then you would be very confused. Just a warning.

The halls were the E hall, the L hall, the T hall, and the J hall. They were named after the other four branches of the Cahill family, and they were set up in that way as well. The E hall housed the laboratories, and that was where the scientists, inventors, and people of that kind. The L hall was the intelligence hall, with the President's office contained there. The T hall was the defense and war hall, and the J hall held everything else. And even within these divisions, it was very easy to get confused.

That's why most Madrigals chose one Hall and stayed there, specializing in some form. Amy never specialized, but she was one of the three who didn't. Drifting from hall to hall, they gathered an overview of the entire operation. They were the unspoken leaders of their generation. Or at least, Amy was. The other two were very old, and basically worked as managers of the operation. So, they weren't exactly leaders, but Amy was. One of the seven members of the so-called 'youth council', she wielded an amazing amount of power within the Madrigals.

Meanwhile, though, she led Leah, Zach and Jack through the E hall, collecting Sara _enroute,_ and into what was fondly called, The Clue Lab.

"You owe me," Jack whispered, nudging Sara. "Pay up." Snarling under her breath, the petite brunette dug through her pocket and handed him his two thousand, muttering curses.

Amy scowled at them, glaring. The pair quickly fell silent, cowed. Amy stared at them for another moment, then turned her attention to the lead scientist in the lab, and fell to whispering with him. The other four members of Amy's team lounged against the wall, waiting. Eventually, Amy finished talking and headed for the door. The others fell into step behind her, restraining their curiosity.

Amy chuckled. "I was just giving him a bit of information. It won't actually be ready for another three, four hours. Satisfied? I have a meeting with the council now, so I'll meet you back at the lab then." Without waiting for an answer, she broke off, and headed down a different hallway, quickly disappearing from sight. The others exchanged looks, then quickly scattered, making their own ways to the meadow where they always met.

Amy would be busy in her meeting for at least a couple of hours, leaving the others open to do what ever they want.

Reassembling at the meadow, the others looked curiously at Sara's exultant expression.

"Explain," Zach demanded, dropping to the ground and sprawling in the grass. "why, exactly, you look like a cat that just got the cream."

"You know that the Elections are coming up?" she asked. They all rolled their eyes at her. Like they could somehow not realize that the Elections were coming up. They were only the most important thing—other than the Clues—in the Madrigal world right now. Every ten years, the Madrigals held elections for the leadership positions. The King or Queen, the Council, and then the Court. Every one was worried about it, because it was such a huge deal. The older Madrigals were pulled out of active duty into a sort of council, and everyone was spread very thin for a while. That was most likely what the Youth Council was meeting about right now, when they thought about it.

"Of course. But what does that have to do with you? It's not like you're a candidate." Leah asked, absently plating a grass band.

Sara's smile was absolutely wicked. "No," she agreed. "I'm not. Amy, however, is."

There was a moment of dead silence as the other three just stared at her. Then—

"WHAT!"

"Are you crazy!!! Amy wouldn't want to be the Queen!"

"How?"

"Thank you Leah. As for the how—everyone else in the category of 'youth' is determined. She would be perfect. Besides, we are talking about Miss Amy I-brokered-a-peace-between-North-and-South-Korea-on-the-spot-in-less-than-two-hours Cahill. She'll be fine. Her name has already been submitted, so there is really nothing you can do. Also, I think that the older crowd would agree. She is really quite popular, you know. No, Jack, I am not crazy. And it's because she wouldn't want to be queen that she would be perfect. That means she won't be too pushy, and she'll do her best, not for ambition. And I know, amazing, isn't it Zach?"

"You know," Jack finally told her, "I'm so not helping you when Amy goes to kill you."

Sara just laughed. "Are you kidding? Knowing Amy, she isn't paying any attention to the Elections, because she doesn't think that it has anything to do with her. No one else would mention it, and that way, she won't find out until the actual Election. Besides, I wasn't the only one involved. There are a bunch of other people working to put this together. So, no problems. Isn't it great?"

It took a few minutes, but everyone finally broke out laughing. If nothing else, the look on Amy's face would be priceless.

* * *

Amy Cahill glided into the Council room, the last one in.

"Sorry," she said lightly, "But I got caught up in the Clue Lab. It'll be ready by tonight."

"Excellent," John Mayde told her. "Have a seat. There really is only one thing that I need to tell you about. Everyone in the room drifted over to the table and sat down, looking at him expectantly. He sighed. "As we all know, the older members of the order are going to be pulled out of active duty," he began. "That leaves us in the position of having to hold all six inhabited continents." They all just looked at him. "So we need to decide who will take each continent, and who will stay at base and coordinate."

"Easy," one of the three girls, Cassandra Saronlin, said. "You coordinate, John—you're the best. As for me, I'd like South America. I have some business in the Amazon that I need to take care of."

"Done." Moving over to the giant map on the wall, John carefully made the additions. The others all rolled their eyes behind his back. He was such a perfectionist.

"I'll take Asia," The final girl said, her every manor lazy. Chloe was always like that—her seeming indifference hid a cunning and sometimes cruel mind.

The other three boys exchanged glances. Darren Monroe claimed Africa, and Collin Orde took his homeland of Oceania (Australia & surrounding areas). It wasn't until Josh Conlin took North America, and the boys all grinned at her that Amy realized that she had been set up.

"Oh, HELL no," she snapped, sitting bolt upright and glaring around the room. "Anywhere but Europe. I don't think so."

"Sorry, Amy, but everywhere else is taken." Chloe grinned at her adopted sister. "Have fun in Paris," she crowed, darting out of the room. The others quickly made their way out of the room, until she was left with John. Her eyes narrowed at him, and he couldn't help but swallow hard.

"Sorry, but you don't really have a choice anymore. Politics are a bitch, aren't they? Oh," he paused on his way out the door. "We have to be in our places tomorrow. The others—the teams you pick to work under you—have to be there the day after that. Have fun!" He called as he slid out the door.

Amy swore viciously after him, but had to accept defeat. She had a job that she needed to do—it didn't, or shouldn't, matter that the Madrigal base in Europe was in Paris. Paris was an ideal location, central enough to the continent, and not attracting attention. It didn't matter that the Lucian base was also there. And it definitely shouldn't matter that her brother would be there, along with other Lucians that she could—unfortunately—claim close ties with.

Her life just got a whole lot more complicated. Damn, but Karma was a bitch. She had abandoned him—it was only fitting that she had to go and stay in the city that was his stronghold. Doesn't life just suck sometimes?

* * *

Sara looked up in surprise to see a fuming Amy stalking their way. "That was a short Council meeting," she noted, scrambling to her feet. The other three members of the team groaned to their feet as well, taking in Amy's obvious anger warily.

They waited until Amy got to them, and then waited more while she paced the meadow furiously, curing to herself in seven different languages.

"We," she finally grated out, "Are going to Europe. Jack, you're in charge of the north sector—Sara, you have the south. Leah, you're taking east, and Zach, the West. I want you and your people there the day after tomorrow."

"Our people?" Jack asked.

"Make teams. The older members are pulling out in three days—we have to be in place before that."

"Where will you be?" Leah asked, narrow eyed.

"I," she finally said, stopping in the center of the meadow, the others ranged around her, "will be at our base in Paris. Isn't that lovely?"

_Shit,_ They all thought. _That won't make her happy, what and with her brother and all_.

"Come on," she said abruptly, turning to go back to Headquarters.

"Now what?" Sara asked, following behind, the others ranging behind her.

"The Clues, remember?" Amy asked, amused. "Whatever it is, it's ready now."

"Oh, yeah," Jack said. He nudged Zach. "Race you," he offered. Zach rolled his eyes, then took off in a flat out sprint. Jack darted after him, laughing. The three girls sighed. "Boys," Leah muttered.

The girls got to the lab five minutes later, to find the boys leaning irritably against the wall.

"Forgot, we aren't allowed in without Amy," Jack confessed. Amy just laughed, before walking in the door. The rest of the team followed her in, looking curious. The large room hadn't changed overmuch, with a large basin in the middle of the room, filled with a silver liquid.

"Ah, Amy. There you are. Now, we seem to have…"

***

"So…what does it do, _exactly_?" Jack pressed.

"It seems to make something impervious, fast, strong…we tested them on mice, and we had to suffocate them to death. They destroyed the cage, and were moving around the room a blurs. I tried to stop one with the door, but it broke a hole in it. It was incredible. Anyway, all we need now is a human subject. Unfortunately, no one is willing," the head scientist told them.

"I'll test it," Amy said suddenly, causing everyone to stare at her. She filled a glass with the liquid, and swirled it around. "However, because I'm going to paris tomorrow, if you want to observe me, you'll have to do it there." And then, before anyone could stop her, she tilted her head back and downed the glass. She swayed a moment, and then crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

Daniel Cahill was not in a good mood. Not only did the Madrigals get away—again—with another Clue, but the Lucians were also hosting a tentative four-branch meeting in Paris at the end of the week, and he, Ian and Natalie were in charge of it. And on top of that, it was also the anniversary of the day that Amy had disappeared—or died, most likely.

Dan grit his teeth as he paused outside the Lucian main office. After taking a moment to collect himself, he opened the door and walked inside. Ian and Natalie Kabra were leaning over the blue-prints of a large building.

"We'll need some obvious cameras, or no one will relax at all. They'll all be waiting for the bomb to drop, figuratively speaking," Natalie was saying. She paused. "Do you think that we should put some cameras in the girl's lavatory? It's not like we'll see naked women, unless they're doing things that they really shouldn't do away from home," she added cynically. Ian gave her a pained look, but didn't respond.

"What do you think, Dan?" she asked, pouncing on the boy. He gave her an irritated look, then shrugged. Leaning over, his sharp eyes scanned the plans. Behind his back, the Kabra's exchanged a look. It was that look that everyone hates, the one that said, 'oh. It's one of_ those_ days. Be careful. Leave him alone. Ignore it,' and that sort of thing. So, one couldn't really blame Dan when he went slightly stiff.

Needless to say, the next hour was a tense, tightly controlled affair. No one said anything that they didn't have to, and they went their separate ways as soon as possible. Ah, the joys of being a Lucian. The suspense, the suspicion…

Once the meeting was over—finally—Dan walked out of headquarters and headed into the city. He just needed to get away from his branch, or he would end up killing someone, and then he would have to deal with all that paperwork. It was much better to just leave, and so two hours later, he was walking through the city's main market, fighting for control.

Dan wasn't exactly what one might call 'normal'. He was a Ninja—or close to it, at least. He was a spy, a karate master, and one of the top five in the Lucian branch, along with the four Kabra's, where the parents were the leaders and the kids the heirs. He had gotten the position through a lot of hard work and skill. Still, when he first caught sight of the tall, red haired girl, he didn't pay much attention. After the instinctive shying away—she looked far too much like Amy—he forgot about her.

The next time that he saw her, they were face to face. Dan staggered several steps back.

"Amy?" He breathed. An unreadable expression crossed her face, and then she melted into the crowd. Dan didn't even bother trying to go after her—he knew she was gone.

But it was Amy, without a doubt. Her features were sharper, colder, but still hers. Her eyes, hair, and expressions were the same. She was far more beautiful than he remembered, but he hadn't ever thought of her that way either.

But she was supposed to be dead! What the hell was going on!

Retracing his steps back to Lucian Headquarters, Dan schooled his features into a blank page. He was going to get to the bottom of this.

Unfortunately, he had forgotten Ian. He was muttering to himself at his computer, when he suddenly realized that he was being watched. He looked up swiftly. Standing in the door was Ian.

"Amy is _alive_?"

* * *

**Cliffie!! Don't you guys just love those? Anyway, I'm trying to be better with the whole updating thing. Not sure how well I'm doing, but I'm trying. I have found that it's hard to be doing four stories at the same time, so it's harder than I thought.**

**Anyway.**

**Also: yes, I know that it was supposed to be a philosopher's stone. But I need it to be a liquid, so it's in liquid form.**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**(And DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.)**


	7. Chapter 7

"_Amy is _alive_?"_

* * *

Amy scowled to herself as she swiftly paced the floor of her new office. The scientist currently assigned to watch her watched in awe, notes forgotten as she flashed from one wall to the other, speeding up according to her agitation. At the moment, she was very agitated.

She, and the scientists following her around, were the only Madrigals in Europe. The other teams were arriving tomorrow, but they weren't here now. And she'd been recognized! She was so stupid.

And it was Dan who had seen her, and that was so much worse than anything that she could have imagined. Anyone else might try to blow it off as a mistake, but Dan would do everything in his power to find her. He was going to become a problem…and Madrigals took care of problems only one way. Amy shivered. No. She would not agree to her brother's murder. Which meant…

She didn't know what it meant. Yet. But she did know, with certainty that she was going to have to do something, and soon. Otherwise, he would become enough of a problem that she wouldn't have a choice. Ah, the joys of Leadership.

Stopping abruptly, and leaving the scientist slightly dizzy, Amy sat down at the computer and turned the security system on at full strength. Dan was a Lucian, so he would be trying to get to her in more secretive ways, rather than old-fashioned tracking. Not that that would work, but still…

Amy hissed in frustration. She wanted to see him! He was her brother, after all. The two of them had been close…and then she had ditched him. She wouldn't blame him if he hated her, but somehow, she doubted that he did. That thought shouldn't please her…but it did.

Absently, she wondered, with a tiny part of her brain, if violent mood swings were a part of the Clue solution. And violence, because right now, she wanted to hurt something. Badly.

Getting up again, Amy stalked out of the office, and down into the practice gym. Selecting a sword at random, she plunged it into the first dummy without a pause. Continuing on with the huge sword, Amy destroyed twenty dummies in less than two minutes, while the scientist continued to make careful notes. (A/N: But from now on, unless I say otherwise, let's just assume the scientist is taking notes on everything that she does.)

Amy surveyed the demolished dummies in dismay. Now she didn't have anything to do. Sighing, she checked the clock. It was one o'clock…in the morning. Amy stared at it in surprise, then finally shrugged and headed to her bedroom. Funny, but she didn't feel tired…the Stone?

After downing the potion, Amy had passed out for about three, four hours. When she woke up, she had been fine. More than fine. In fact, she had been perfect. There was absolutely nothing wrong with her. She had insisted on getting on a plane, and had been gone an hour later. The scientists, perpetually paranoid, had followed after.

Once they had arrived in Paris, they had insisted on several tests to see what had happened to her. It turned out that she was ridiculously strong and fast, her skin was utterly impenetrable, and she also had impossible eyesight and hearing. After taking some brain scans, the scientists discovered something very interesting.

Most humans only used about ten percent of their brains. Amy, however, was operating at a full, 100% activity level. They estimated that she could do anything that she tried—impossible or not. Amy rolled her eyes. She didn't feel any different...but then, she had seen the proof of her new physical prowess with her own eyes. Maybe she did have impossible mental talents. There was only one way to find out, she thought as she reached her room. She closed the door sharply on the scientist's face, and then went to sit on her bed.

Closing her eyes, Amy descended into the calm, peaceful state of mind that she always felt when meditating. Then, when she was absolutely calm, she slowly opened her eyes. She gasped. Her bed was hovering five feet in the air. As her mind wavered, shocked, the bed wobbled dangerously. Amy took a deep, unnecessary breath. _Focus_, she thought. _Relax. Everything is fine_. The girl slowly lowered the bed back to the ground before she dared to smile exultantly.

It was a dangerous art, she soon found. Not half an hour in, and she had already completely destroyed her desk—she hadn't realized just how much pressure that she was putting it under. Sighing, she studied the fragments. Then, with great concentration, she pictured the desk in her mind, exactly the way that she wanted. When she finally opened them again, she was stunned to find that the desk was standing there, whole, looking brand new. She gasped.

Anything I want, she realized. I can do literally anything I want.

Holy Crap.

Wow.

Amy looked around her room speculatively. If she could do anything that she wanted, what should she want?

Giggling madly, Amy started to think.

* * *

All of the scientists thought that they would go mad. For one thing, Amy wasn't being overly cooperative. Secondly, she was now telling them everything that they wanted to know—and more. The flood of information was going to make them insane.

She could do what ever she wanted. Read minds, telekinesis, anything. Her impossible speed and strength, grace and knowledge, combined with all of these other things, were driving them crazy with implications. There didn't seem to be any ill affects, except for the fact that she didn't need sleep anymore. Though, this was only bad for them, because they needed to try to keep an eye on her.

Oh, why did everything have to be so difficult?

* * *

Amy tilted her head to the side, stopping mid-word.

"Right," she said suddenly, changing her sentence. "My teams are here, and I must speak with them, and so, you are all dismissed. I will meet with you again later, if that's all right." Without waiting for an answer, Amy swept out of the room, reappearing in the main meeting room a few moments later, seemingly out of nowhere. Only a minute later, Zack, Leah, Sara, and Jack walked into the room, joking among themselves. Behind them came their five-person teams, looking slightly awed.

Amy shrugged to herself. It was slightly understandable—they were the Clue team, the ones who hunted down rumors, and found the Clues, one by one.

Everyone quickly took a seat, and once everyone was settled, Amy drifted to the front of the room.

"We are the only ones of our order here on this continent. We are in charge of keeping the order, and watching the other Cahills. There is no more dangerous time to do this. We have recovered, and destroyed, the last of the Clues, and so they are upset and unhappy. They are dangerous." Amy's gaze swept over the room, noting each and every face. "We are the youngest members of our order, untried, and only just out of training. This is, for all intents and purposes, your final. This is where you find out—do you have what it takes to be a field agent, or are you meant to stay in the background? There is no shame in either choice—for both are needed. But now it's time to test yourselves." Amy paused again. "For all intents and purposes, I am the law here. My will is uncontestable. My decisions, final. You will each report to one of my team, and they will report to me. You know your jobs, or at least you should. I want Europe covered before the sun goes down. Am I understood?"

"Yes." Every single one of the people in the room answered, their tones crisp.

"Very well. Move out. Jack, Leah, Zack, Sara. Stay behind."

The room quickly emptied as everyone scattered. Amy could hear every agent talking to each other as they headed for the door.

She smiled, and then turned to her team. "Well, how did it go?" she asked, her voice light.

"As well as expected. Elections came at a very bad time, I must say," Zack drawled. Leah nodded in fervent agreement.

"They're all excited, exhilarated, even. They don't understand, yet, the toll this life takes on someone," Sara said softly. "The constant movement, the mistrust, the careful words, false identities…I fear for them. They are so young."

"And yet," Jack mused, "Some of them are older then us. Oh, well. We always were the best." Zack laughed, and the two boys high-fived. The three girls sighed.

"They will do fine, Sara," Amy said. "I have faith in them. They are strong enough. No, what worries me is that there are so few of us. Only twenty five, on the entire continent. If there is trouble, I am afraid that we cannot handle it." She sighed.

"At least it's only for a short time. The Elections are in two weeks. There is enough time for the kids to get a taste, but I don't really think that it will be a problem," Leah said softly. "Just two weeks."

There was a pause.

"Well," Sara finally offered, "I don't know if this will help, but there is a huge four-branch meeting going on here in five days. Someone could go, and find out what the branches are up to."

"Brilliant," Amy breathed. "I'll go."

Even though the others argued, no one was able to dissuade her.

"Besides," she finally said. "I need you else where. I'm the only one here. I have to go, isn't it obvious?" _And I have to find out what Dan did about seeing me_.

In the end, no one was happy about it, by any means, but they had to agree.

"Meanwhile, I think that it's time you tried the Clue solution. It really is amazing…"

* * *

"Yes. Amy is alive. I don't know how, but I saw her, just the other day." Dan practically snarled the words, trying to get past the stubbornness of the Kabra's. They absolutely refused to believe that Amy was still alive, and intellectually, Dan knew why.

If Amy was alive, then she must have left of her own accord. The problem was, Dan could not figure out how she had stayed of the Lucian's radar for so long. Surly they would have found something. So that left the question: how?

However, he was going to have to let go of Amy, for the moment. The 4-branch meeting was tomorrow, and there were still some things that needed to be done. Grimacing, Dan went to work. If only for two more days. Then he would be free to look for his sister. Just two more days.

* * *

Amy stared thoughtfully at the mirror. The floor-length black gown she was wearing made her hair look life a fall of fire, and her pale skin glowed against it. She remembered the conversation that she had had with the joint Council last night with a smile.

"_You are right, child. It is past time that we have come out of the shadows. The branches fear the Madrigals, and for good reason. But neither do they truly know anything about us. Now is the time to show ourselves. And you are the perfect choice."_

"_I am?"_

"_Yes. Now go, child. Show the Cahills why they fear our power."_

"_Melodramatic much?" two others from the youth council said with grins._

So, Amy could go to the meeting as herself, as Amy Cahill, a leader of the Madrigals. She smiled. The Cahill's were in for the time of their lives.

* * *

**So, here you go! I hope you like it.**

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**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**


	8. Chapter 8

Amy glided out of the Madrigal Paris Headquarters and into the limo that they always kept on hand. Hiring as such a chore after all—why bother? The limo pulled out of the long drive and into the streets, moving easily around everything else in the way. By then, five days after she understood exactly what the Stone did, all the Madrigals in Europe had taken some, along with most at the Main Headquarters. Most people on the other continents had taken some as well, but not all. All the Madrigals were going slightly overboard, what and with all of their new abilities. Amy sighed. They were such children.

The long drive gave her ample time to muse…and panic. After all, this was the biggest thing that she would do in a long time, if ever. Just how many times did a group that everyone hated decide to reveal themselves at a ball? Not often. Amy realized with a start that she was actually looking forward to this. Much better. It was so much easier to be impressive when you weren't nervous. The tall girl smiled lazily and leaned back.

A few minutes later, the car pulled to a stop and the door was opened for her. Amy stepped gracefully out, looked around, then waltzed right up the stairs, breezed past the guard with only a tiny bit of mental manipulation, and was in. She smiled in satisfaction. Good. Everything was going perfectly.

Amy moved quickly down the hall and into the main room, lingering in the shadows. Her sharp gaze swept over the crowd, quickly locating each of the different Branches. The Lucians had claimed the far left corner, with the Ekatrina's directly across from them. On the far left, were the Janus, and the Tomas across from them. There was a large space in the center, but there was almost no one there. Every one was in their clans, waiting for something to happen.

Amy smiled. The Madrigals were very good at getting things to happen. Scanning the room, she spotted Jonas Wizard, standing and leaning lazily against the wall. A few feet behind him was his father, working on his ever-present blackberry. Amy rolled her eyes. On the other side of the room were the Holts—Amy shuddered slightly and moved on. There was Alistair Oh, and across from him, Irina. Near Irina, but not too near were the Kabras. Amy's eyes narrowed, then turned into slits when she noticed Dan talking to them in a low voice. Gritting her teeth slightly, she looked over the entire room again. She tilted her head slightly to the side—Jonas was gone. _Interesting,_ she thought. A moment later, she heard footsteps behind her, and smiled slightly.

"Hello, Jonas," she murmured. The footsteps stopped.

"Do I know you?" he asked warily.

"An excellent question, my dear," she said, turning around. "Do you remember me?"

It took a moment, and then, "_Amy Cahill_?" he asked in astonishment. "But—you're—I mean—"

"I'm dead? Yes, that does seem to be the story. Tell me, what did they decide on? I really can't remember. Was it a car crash, or did I just go missing?"

"Umm…car crash…Amy, is that really you?"

"In the flesh," she purred, twirling. She smiled to herself. Jonas wasn't too bad, for a Cahill.

Jonas stared at her in absolute amazement. Fiery red hair fell to her waist, pulled back into a long mane of light curls. Her gown was silver and black, and was embroidered with diamonds and emeralds. The medieval fashion looked fantastic on her, and she looked like she was a queen pulled from ancient times.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked impulsively.

She smiled. "sure," she murmured, secretly pleased. Oh, yes, Madrigals were _very_ good at making things happen. _This is going to be an interesting party_, she thought in delight.

The two of them glided into the main room and right onto the dance floor. Whispers started flying through the room, and within two turns on the floor, every single Cahill in the room was staring at the pair.

Dan slipped through the mass of Lucians to the front.

"Amy?" he breathed, unbelieving.

The girl turned to face him, and smiled sadly. "Hello, Dan," she said gently. "It's been a long time."

Dan glared at her, finally recovered from his shock. He could not believe that she had the nerve to just say that 'it's been a long time'. "Two years! You let me think that you were _dead_!"

"It was the only option. If you knew I was alive, that would have put many people in danger."

"Oh yeah? Like who?"

"My entire family," she hissed. "My way of life. My people."

"What people?" Dan asked, baffled.

"The Madrigals. My people."

The reaction to those words was predictable, and instant. Jonas jumped a foot, and then stared at her like he had never seen him before. Gasps were everywhere as people started freaking out, and Dan took several steps back, blank shock on his face.

"You're a….what?"

"Madrigal. Do I need to spell it out for you?" Amy smiled coldly. "I. Am. A. Madrigal. In fact, I'm a very important Madrigal. And I am personally responsible for getting every single one of the clues found in the last two years. Well, my team and I, that is." Amy tilted her head to the side as she stared at her brother. "Don't get me wrong, I'm still your sister, and I've been trying to keep an eye on you, make sure you're safe, and all that jazz. You being one of the Lucian leaders did surprise me though. I didn't think you could stand the Kabra's." she spoke as though she and Dan were the only ones in the room and she didn't give a damn what the others thought, or even that they were there. But when one of the Tomas pulled a weapon out, she pulled out a gun and pointed it at him without turning around.

"I wouldn't," she cautioned.

He didn't.

Amy smiled. "See, this isn't even going too badly. No casualties, at least, so far. I'm even being nice."

"You aren't my sister. Not anymore," Dan hissed.

Sadness crossed Amy's face. "I understand," she said softly.

"Why are you here?" Natalie demanded coldly, finally pulling herself together enough to approach.

"I am here, because it is time my people stopped hiding in the shadows. We will be moving forward now, and we thought that the meeting between you and us should happen on our terms. We are rather selective about things, you know. And if any of you killed one of us, we would exterminate you. Sorry, but that's a fact. We are a family, and we don't like people killing ours." Her smile was chilling as she turned away from her brother. "We thought we'd give fair warning."

"You can't be a Madrigal," Ian said slowly, coming up behind his sister.

"You're a Lucian. If your brother is a Lucian, then naturally, so are you," Jonas pointed out.

"What are the Madrigals?" Hamilton Holt asked, crossing over to the group on the dance floor. "How do you become one, that is?"

The whispers that had been flowing quick and fast through the crowd suddenly stopped. In the dead silence, every eye was focused on Amy. She sighed.

"We are Cahills that think the rest of you are fools. We don't give a damn about your stupid feuds, and actually care about the world. That's our focus—the world. Let the people blow themselves to high hell for all we care—but they can't destroy the entire world while they're at it." She smiled brightly, but the look in her eyes told them that this was not a joke.

"Umm…right…."

"And we don't care what branch that we were supposed to be in. One of my best friends is supposed to be a Janus. Another, an Ekat. No one in the Madrigals gives a damn who you were supposed to be, be just care who you are. You can't just become a Madrigal—you are, or you aren't. It's that simple. I am. You aren't." Amy shrugged. "But as I said, it's time that we have stopped hiding in the shadows. We will be coming out, and you will deal with it, or we will eliminate you."

"Eliminate us?" Ian asked, stunned.

Amy looked at him. "Yes, Ian, eliminate you. I believe that you are familiar with the concept of 'elimination of the enemy'? That is what we will do, if we are forced to it. We would much rather it not happen, however, which is, again, why I am here. I am trying to keep the bloodshed to a minimum."

"Really?" Natalie asked in slight disbelief.

"Tell me; what would you do if you found that someone wanted to kill your entire branch, just for existing and defying you?"

"We would…eliminate…them…" Natalie's voice trailed off, faintly.

"Exactly," Amy murmured. "Are we really all that different from you? The only differences that I can see is that we worked from the shadows, and that we care for more than ourselves. Think about it." Amy turned to leave, her job done and eager to get away from them before they recovered from the shock, but paused in the doorway and looked back. "Dan, if you want to get in contact with me…I'll know."

With that, Amy hurried out the door. Behind her, she could both hear and feel the growing chaos as the Cahills she had left in a stunned stupor began to recover. Smiling slightly at her luck, Amy slid out the door and down the stairs, where the limo that she had arrived in was still waiting for her. She breathed a quiet sigh of relief as they pulled quickly away from the large hall.

Despite her outward confidence, Amy hadn't truly been sure how the meeting would go. There was every possibility that the Cahills would react badly, and try to kill her. She had been prepared for that, of course, but was still rather surprised that no one had tried, other than that one Tomas.

Thinking about it, Amy realized that it was really just shear shock that had kept her safe. Not one Cahill would ever have expected one of the Madrigals to come forward at their own party. It was a good thing she had managed to get out so quickly, or else something very bad would have happened, Amy was nearly sure of it. Amy leaned back against the seat, thinking fast. She was going to have to send out warnings to all of her people, and of course, HQ. Personally keeping an eye on the main members of the various branches would also be an important step. She would take care of that, seeing as she was the one most directly connected to them, and would know more about them than the other Madrigals, despite the surveillance that the Madrigals preformed.

Amy hummed something under her breath, focusing on her plans. The limo was moving so smoothly that if it wasn't for the sound of the engine—magnified to her ears—she would have forgotten she was even in a car. Or at least until the car stopped and the chauffeur opened her door for her. Amy stepped out of the car and slipped up the stairs of the large, rundown apartment building. Once inside, she smiled at the brick wall in front of her. A recent security addition, created once they had discovered that, due to their new abilities, the Madrigals could, quite literally, walk through walls.

After Amy did, in fact, walk through said wall, she passed through all the other security measures (which are numerous and the narrator does not feel like describing) into the main council room. Once there, Amy sat calmly in the center of the room and activated all of the different monitors so that she could start a conference with her team.

Moving quickly, she typed in the activation codes and then sat back to wait. There was only a few moments pause before the first monitor cleared, and Jack appeared, with a wicked grin. Then Leah, Zach and Sara.

She smiled at them. "Well now," she drawled, "but do I have news for you."

* * *

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	9. Chapter 9

Nearly two months had passed since the disastrous end of the Cahill's first attempt at an inter-branch relationship. The Madrigals had faded into the background, but now that the Cahill's were actually looking for it, they could see some signs of the Madrigal movements across the world and time. The problem was that they were so _subtle_. Little things, over time, build up into something truly powerful.

Groups that—while they may not be Madrigals themselves—were backed by Madrigals were on the moon, helping the rainforests…their influence was everywhere, subtle…and very, very effective. And if the Madrigals did decide to come out into the open…well, a little bit of research had showed that the Madrigals had more than enough power to completely destroy the Cahill's—for good, this time.

The Cahill branches were, needless to say, in a state of complete and total panic.

Dan, Natalie, and Ian were sitting in the middle of Ian's room, talking softly. Ian was trying desperately to get Dan to get in contact with his sister. Dan was not at all sure he wanted to get in touch with a sister who had abandoned him and pretended that she was dead. Natalie was of the opinion that they should just ignore Amy as long as they could. But in regards to that plan, Dan was firmly against just ignoring them, because Dan was also absolutely sure that something big was happening—they just didn't know what.

"No! I just…" _Amy didn't care about me. She didn't. So why should I give a damn about her?_ Dan almost flinched, if his training would have allowed it. Selfish, he knew it—but he couldn't help himself. Still, Amy's words kept drifting into his head, 'kept an eye on you' she had said. And the look of sadness when he had denied her was haunting him.

"Alright, so you don't want to get in contact with her. Fine. Ok. What do you think is happening that is so important that we are missing?" Ian had by now gotten up and was pacing…endlessly pacing.

"How are we supposed to know?" Natalie demanded fiercely. "You get the exact same reports that we do, and you know exactly what we do! NOTHING! None of our people had found jack, and we are at a complete dead end! And if our spies couldn't find it, it isn't there to find! They've searched everything top secret the world over!"

Something about what she had said nagged at Dan. He frowned, and closed his eyes, thinking. For some reason, one of the times that he had been playing a sort of game with Amy and Grace came to mind.

_Flashback_

"_All right, I give up," Dan groaned, collapsing into a chair. "It doesn't exist, Grace. I've searched everywhere!" _

_His grandmother laughed. "Nonsense, Dan. After all, Amy found hers, didn't she?"_

_Dan sat bolt upright and stared at his sister, wide eyed. Sure enough, she was cradling the silver necklace that Grace had sent her to find. Dan's gold wristwatch, however, was still missing. Grace had hidden them somewhere in her house, to see how well the kids knew the house, and her personality. _

"_What! Where? How?" Dan gasped, stunned. "But…I always find it first! How did you do it?" _

_Amy grinned. "You're over thinking it, Dan. It's really obvious," she told him, not really answering his question, but confusing him. _

"_What?" he demanded._

"_Sometimes the lesson isn't how well it's hidden, but how well it isn't hidden," Grace explained. Dan thought about that for a minute. Then his eyes widened, and he raced off to his room. Sure enough, the watch was sitting right on his pillow. Shaking his head, Dan picked it up and returned to the sitting room. "But…" he protested weakly._

"_You are so used to my going to extreme lengths to hide things that you have neglected to look in the obvious places. Sometimes, that is where you will find things that you had previously thought gone."_

_End flashback. _

"Obvious…no way…"

"Dan?" Natalie asked, confused.

Dan shook his head at her, but didn't answer. He turned quickly to his computer and went to Google. Then, still disbelieving, he typed in the command 'Madrigal gathering'.

"I really don't think that…" Natalie trailed off, staring in disbelief. The first link that Dan had clicked on showed plans for a giant gathering, in one week's time. The Madrigal Court!, it proclaimed. Invite Only! Rio!

And there, right on the list of who was in charge…Amy Cahill.

"No way," Ian breathed, leaning in to examine it more closely.

"We're so used to them hiding everything that it never occurred to us that they had just…stopped…hiding…" Natalie murmured, sinking down on the bed. "Brilliant. We waste our time searching the shadows, and there they are, moving in broad daylight. Absolutely brilliant."

"Thank goodness," Ian said. "At least now we know where to go, and all that. I'll see what I can do about getting us and some of our people in there."

"Good. We'll take care of the branch, don't worry," Natalie said, having slightly recovered. Dan nodded wordlessly.

**One week later…**

Dan, Ian, and Natalie got off the plane in Rio, slightly nervous. When Ian had finally managed to get in contact with someone important, he had been given invitations, told his flight was booked, and that someone would be meeting them. That was all well and good, but it was the obviously wickedly amused tone of the man on the other end of the phone that had the Lucian's on edge. Something about their presence at this party was somehow amusing to the Madrigals. Still, they weren't going to stay at home because someone thought they were a joke. This was important. Funny, though, how that sounded weaker and weaker every time they used it to try to make themselves feel better.

And _now,_ confronted with an absolutely wicked glint in the eyes of a man in his mid thirties…

This is important. This is _important_.

"This way," the man said, turning and leading the way through the busy airport. The three Lucian's followed silently behind the strange Madrigal. He moved quickly and easily through the halls, as though no one else was there but him. Everyone else moved out of his way, as well—though Dan wasn't entirely certain that they even knew what they were doing.

The four of them reached the garage after only five minutes of walking—a veritable miracle, Dan thought wryly. The limousine that they were ushered into was of far better style and quality than anything the Lucian's had ever seen before. Under normal circumstances, they would have been trying to find out how to get one. As it was, they barely even registered the style.

It seemed that it only took moments for them to reach the edge of the forest, and then time seemed to stand still. The limo moved through the trees in a dream, and the three passengers stared out at the forest in astonishment.

When the building came into sight in front of them, it took the three several moments for them to realize what it was. Private residence, the website had said.

"That kind of party is held in a fricking AMPETHEATER?!?" Natalie had finally blurted out, stunned.

"No one ever said it was a party, Kabra. You simply assumed," their guide murmured. He smiled, and the door opened. "Enjoy," he purred. Natalie got out of the limo stiffly, obviously furious. Dan and Ian followed, slightly wary. There was no telling what this was all about, and they all still remembered Amy's clear promises of violence. Their guide, as well, had an air of repressed violence.

The three of them walked into the ampetheater on edge, slightly fearful. When they walked into the huge ground floor, all three jaws dropped. They couldn't help it.

The entire bottom was set up like a stage, with a raised platform on the center. Sitting on a golden pillow was an elegant gold crown, and a great ring, rather like the one that the Queen of England had. A Ring of State, it was called.

"The court of the Madrigals," Ian said quietly. "They elect their leader. I wonder who…"

"It has to be Amy, of course," Natalie said, a little scornfully. "I can't imagine that anything else would have even made them _dream_ of allowing us here, let alone inviting us and escorting us here."

"True," Ian agreed. He started looking around, obviously trying to find Amy. But the people in the huge stands were scattered widely, and while they didn't seem to have any problems seeing and communicating with each other over distance, the same could not be said for the three Lucian's, and they found themselves hopelessly lost and confused. All three of them jumped when someone cleared their throat right behind them.

"Off the stage, now," a woman said, in a _no arguments_ tone. "The elections are about to begin. You may take a seat over there." The woman pointed to a set of empty seats close enough to the stage for someone visually challenged—which the Lucian's knew that, compared to the Madrigals, they were—to see the stage easily and clearly, but not close enough to get to the stage at all quickly, which they noticed as well. Frowning slightly Dan and Ian hurried to the seats, almost shrinking under the gazes of the collected Madrigals—they could practically hear the whispers. "What are they doing here?" "They aren't Madrigals!" That and more, and so on, until they thought their heads would explode. They reached their seats soon enough, and sat down quickly.

Around them, the murmuring voices of the Madrigals rose, and then suddenly they all went dead silent when an elderly couple moved onto the stage.

"Your Majesties," the woman who had shooed the Lucian's off the stage bowed deeply. Dan and Ian exchanged glances.

The man—King!—smiled wearily. "For now," he corrected. The Queen smiled. The woman smiled, and then turned and walked away quickly, bending over a table that was set up by the edge of the stage and starting to examine some kind of list.

Dan's attention went back to the Royal Couple when the King cleared his throat.

"We have gathered here today, because Annalisa and I have grown weary. We have no children, no way to carry on the succession. And we are weary of ruling. We are too old to change, and we are not strong enough anymore to do what needs to be done for the Crown. And so…we are stepping down. We have followed the process of the Elections with interest, and we believe we know who is to follow us to the throne." A smile on his face and a quiet laugh from the Queen, stopped him. The King took a breath and finished simply. "We wish you luck." The pair turned and strolled off the stage, and the silence, if anything, deepened. Everyone seemed to be watching the woman standing by the tables.

The woman slowly straightened up, and everyone could see what she had done. There were four large sheets of paper arranged in a square formation on the table, each piece a different color. One was a pale cream, one a deep purple, one pale green, and another was such a deep midnight blue that it looked almost black. "Cast your vote," she said calmly.

Natalie leaned forward in fascination, and the boys exchanged confused glances, before a gasp from their female counterpart drew their attention back to the table. Glowing lights—hundreds and hundreds of glowing lights—were flowing from the people in the stands and landing on the papers, which were starting to glow brightly. It quickly became apparent that the midnight blue paper was by far outstripping all of the others with its glow. Eventually the lights stopped coming from the stands. There was a slight pause, then the cream, purple and green papers vanished, and the blue was the only one left.

The woman smiled, and a rumble of laughter rolled through the stands.

"It is my pleasure to announce to you the new ruler of the Madrigals," she announced, and then waited for the former King and Queen to join her. Everyone else seemed to know who the new ruler was, and seemed quite amused.

"The new ruler is…Her Majesty, Queen Amy Cahill!" there was a pause, and then everyone heard a voice say quite clearly,

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL!?!?!?"

Laughter flowed out from the stands, and many of the Madrigals started to call out fake condolences.

"Oh, what a pity, Amy, I had no idea that you would be in for such a hard job…" "Oh, poor, poor Amy, how sad…"

A group came out into stage, pulling a loudly protesting Amy with them.

"All right, who did it?" Amy demanded, coming to a stop. "Who put me forward as a candidate for Queen?" She looked annoyed, but amused enough that no one was all too worried about Royal edicts of instant beheadings, or something.

They all pointed to a black haired girl. "Sara did it!"

'Traiters!" Sara cried dramatically.

"SARA!" Amy exclaimed.

"What?" all four of the others asked.

"I…I…I don't want to be Queen!"

"Exactly! That means that you are absolutely perfect for the job!"

"Why didn't you tell me!"

"Well," a blonde boy drawled, draping his arm over her shoulder and kissing her cheek before she shoved him off with an easily audible hiss, "If you paid any attention to the Elections, _like normal people_, you would have known. So it's entirely your fault."

The former queen went over and placed an arm around Amy's shoulders, replacing the blonde's arm. "They are right. Because you don't want the power, you are the best to hold it."

"Everyone knew about this but me, didn't they?" Amy groaned.

"Well, yes, darling," the queen said with a little smile. Amy sighed, then shot dark looks in the direction of her friends. The queen smiled.

The king came up from behind the group, and joined his wife. Even though he was speaking quietly, everyone in the area heard. Another perk of being a Madrigal, Dan supposed.

"It's time for the Coronation, my dears. Come." The former king lead his wife, the former queen, and Amy, the Queen-to-be, in the direction of the stage. Before this point, they had been gathered beside it, but now the three of them moved onto the stage, while the others faded back into the stands. The laughter and talking that had been going on during the confrontation by the stage abruptly stopped, the dead silence somehow joyful and excited, rather than ominous. Dan, Ian and Natalie leaned forward.

The striking deep blue gown that Amy was wearing stood out sharply against the pale cream that was the current theme of the stage.

"I think that the rulers here do a lot with color," Natalie mused faintly. The two boys had to strain to hear her properly. "The Election papers were just colors as well. That's…interesting," she murmured, and the boys rolled their eyes without really looking away from the stage—quite an accomplishment, really. They could already see the schemes brewing in her devious little mind. Dan managed a grin.

The former king and queen were speaking to Amy—presumably asking her those questions about whether or not she would serve the people, and all those important leaderly oaths. Somewhat surprisingly, no one could hear what they were actually, saying, and could only watch as the former couple asked a bunch of questions, and Amy answered them all. Then the former Royals smiled, and Amy knelt before them. The former queen went over to the large table, and opened the box on top of it. She took out a gold tiara, and went back over to Amy, and asked one final question. Amy answered, "I do," and everyone heard it. The entire gathering seemed to refocus in on the stage.

"I crown you, Amy Jacqueline Cahill, Queen of the Madrigals," the former queen said strongly, and placed the tiara on Amy's head. "Rise, my Queen."

Amy rose to her feet, and then kissed the former queen's cheek. Amy turned to the stands and raised her arms. There was a massive explosion of cheering.

Looking at her, Dan could hardly believe that this was the same Amy Cahill that had stood on the platform mere seconds before. This Amy had a strong, defined, purposeful air. She looked like, well, a Queen.

Amy slowly lowered her arms, and the noise level went down quickly. Within one minute, the crowd was silent again.

"Thank you," she said simply. "I did not look for this, and I will most likely end up killing my team for doing this," a ripple of laughter went through the crowd, and Amy smiled. "But I thank you for the privilege of serving you, and I thank you for your trust in me as well." Amy paused and took a deep breath. "As I had no warning of this, I will meditate on my Court, and notify them tomorrow. But for now, relax, and enjoy! Welcome to the new Court of the Madrigals!"

* * *

Amy was still and silent standing on the highest edge of the ampetheater, her face tilted to the sky. Behind her, she could hear the sounds of the party, and repeatedly, her name whispered among her people. This was the major event of her world, and her people were taking full advantage.

She could also feel Dan and Ian, and also Natalie, but she was less distinct. Something to do with familiarity, she thought. It did make her slightly uneasy to realize that she was attuned to Ian Kabra, but not that much. She was so used to strange things in her life, that her connection to Ian didn't even put her slightly off balance.

Jack came up from behind her, and leaned against a column. Amy didn't turn to face him.

"The party's all for you, love. Why are you way up here?" he asked, his voice quiet.

"I have been…thinking."

"About the Court?"

"Sometimes. Sometimes not."

Jack shifted slightly.

"I don't need this, Jack. Not now."

"You have to make a choice. Kabra's making an impression, downstairs." Jack growled softly. "I'm going to kill whoever let the bastard come. You have to make a choice," he repeated. "Who is going to be Consort, Amy?"

"No one. Not yet. I am young, I have no plans to die, and I am more than strong enough to hold the Throne on my own, Jack. I do not have any need for a Consort. Hell, I'm only sixteen. There is _no rush._" Amy sighed. "What kind of impression is he making?"

"A good one, surprisingly. He somehow managed to turn the Lucian down, and is acting as his own person. Getting to know our people for themselves. He's made his interest in you clear, and a large amount of our people are starting to show interest in him. He's gaining support."

"I'm not surprised. He does have a way with words, doesn't he?"

"Damn it, Amy!" Jack stalked over to her and grabbed her shoulder. "Why don't you care about this!?"

Green eyes stared at him. "Jackson, I do care about this. But there is nothing that I can do about it, at the moment. Let him get to know the people, make his offers. It is with me, that his business lies. There is nothing more to it. I know what he wants, I know what he is doing, and I know his influence. There is nothing to worry about."

"He tried to kill you, and yet you are even considering giving him a chance? Why?"

"Because, Jack, there is something in him that calls to me. Much in the same way that you do."

Jack stared at her, stunned.

"It's one of you, Jack. You or Ian. Please leave. I have to think, alone. Tell Sara to keep Ian occupied, and away from me. I don't care what it takes."

Jack took a deep breath, and stepped back. "Of course, Amy. Your wish is my command."

Amy closed her eyes, but she still heard him leaving. She turned back to the sky. Her choice, Ian or Jack. Dark or light, fiery passion or gentle care. Her choice. Amy smiled. She had all the time in the world to make her choice. All the time in the world.

* * *

**Yay! Last chapter! All that's left is the epilogue…**

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	10. Epilouge

Epilouge…

Amy Jacqueline Cahill, Queen of the Madrigals, stormed into her bedroom in the great palace in the Himalayas.

"I cannot believe them!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air. The two men in the room looked up at her and raised their eyebrows, exchanging loaded glances.

"Despite what you all seem to think, boys, I am not an invalid, and _I saw that_."

"Boys?" one of the questioned, grinning. "We're what, thirty something years old? We are men, thank you very much!"

"Oh, please. You are such a child at heart, my dear." Amy waved her hand at him, and sat down at her dressing table, starting to pull pins out of her hair. "I may be nearly eight months pregnant, but that does not mean that I am suddenly incapable of running the realm." She growled, returning to her original source of irritation. "They didn't even know until five months!" Amy paused, and then started muttering very quickly under her breath in several different languages—at once.

"NO one thinks that you can't rule, love, they just want to be sure that you are taking care of yourself as well. You must admit, you tend to overlook yourself if you think that the realm needs you, love."

Amy narrowed her eyes at her husband's reflection. "Humph." Was her only response.

"It's late, love, and you do need rest…"

"All right," the other male said, grinning as he got up. "I can take a hint. I'm not welcome anymore. Good night, see you both tomorrow," he said, kissing Amy on the forehead before strolling out the door.

Amy's husband grinned. "About time," he said lightly. "Come on, Amy. Come to bed…"

Amy scowled at him, but got up to walk over to him. She slid into bed, and he promptly wrapped his arms around her.

"Sleep, love," he murmured. "I'm here."

"I know…"

They settled into silence, and soon Amy fell asleep. Her husband trailed his hand lightly over her stomach. She had said, quite firmly, that no one was to check the gender of the baby, but he had. They all had. Hell, Amy probably had as well, but he wasn't absolutely positive about that. She was quite determined, at times.

Still, practically everyone else in the Madrigal world knew that the Queen was carrying a princess daughter.

Ian smiled, kissed his wife softly, and drifted off to sleep.

_His_ princess daughter…


End file.
